How to disable shortcuts for Pilcrow in Outlook (Show or hide paragraph marks)

[Nik]

Hello,

it was not possible to disable the shortcut key "STRG+*" and "STRG+*" for Pilcrow in Outlook and Word.
These shortcuts are named so in MS Office 2007 in German location.
Many other shortcuts can be disabled without problems. Why not for this shortcuts?
Here is a screenshot as example form a never Word Version:

In newer Office editions the same shortcut is used but is named correctly "Ctrl + Shift + 8":

How to show or hide paragraph marks in Word?​

"Apart from the

Show/Hide button, you can also press Ctrl + Shift + 8 keys together to show or hide all paragraph marks and hidden formatting symbols at ease."​

Example from a Reg-File:
MS Office defined this shortcut as "Ctrl + *" and "Ctrl + (", but it is wrong to call them so. So it does not work with the following keys:
Key Codes (ASCII decimal):

* = 42​

( = 40​

CNTRL= 8​

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes] ;disable Pilcrow "CNTRL+* = disable Pilcrow"="42,8" "CNTRL+( = disable Pilcrow"="40,8" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes] ;disable Pilcrow "CNTRL+* = disable Pilcrow"="42,8" "CNTRL+( = disable Pilcrow"="40,8"

The solution
To deactivate the both shortcuts their key codes must be defined for "Ctrl + Shift + +" and "Ctrl + Shift + 8"!
The Key Codes are (ASCII decimal):

+ = 43​

8 = 56​

CNTRL= 8​

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes] ;disable Pilcrow "CNTRL+SHIFT+Plus = disable Pilcrow"="43,12" "CNTRL+SHIFT+OEMPlus = disable Pilcrow"="187,12" "CNTRL+SHIFT+8 = disable Pilcrow"="56,12" [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes] ;disable Pilcrow "CNTRL+SHIFT+Plus = disable Pilcrow"="43,12" "CNTRL+SHIFT+OEMPlus = disable Pilcrow"="187,12" "CNTRL+SHIFT+8 = disable Pilcrow"="56,12"

​

Explanation of the problem with OEMPlus key
The other problem is that not all keyboards have the same key codes for the same characters.
Some Notebooks has the key Code 187 for the OEM-Plus key (named Oemplus) instead of the usual code 43:
Keys Enum (System.Windows.Forms)

If you're not sure which key code to use, simply read out the key (for example via a script in Excel - see more about "Key Code Constants")

Insert the following code part in ThisWorksheet:​

Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose(Cancel As Boolean) Unload UserForm1 End Sub Private Sub Workbook_Open() UserForm1.Show End Sub

​

Insert the following code part in UserForm1:​

Private Sub TextBox1_KeyDown(ByVal KeyCode As MSForms.ReturnInteger, ByVal Shift As Integer) MsgBox KeyCode, , "Key Code Constants" End Sub

​

At least insert in UserForm1 for its code a new button (as object).​

Greetings
Nik